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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WARRIORS VS SPURS

May 16, 2017

Stephen Curry

Oakland, California - Postgame

Warriors - 136, Spurs - 100

Q. Steph, what's the significance of being in control of a playoff game from beginning to end? Does it carry over at all? Do you feel like you've inserted some kind of control over this series?
STEPHEN CURRY: You always try to build momentum and sustain it, for sure. We had a point of emphasis of starting the game with a lot more energy and focus on the defensive end so that we could, you know, just feel a little bit better about ourselves than we did last game in the first quarter.

Then after that, yeah, you just want to continue to build good habits, sustain the level of play. I don't know how much it will carry over Game 2 to Game 3 going back to their place. But for us mentally, we just know what we need to do to be successful against this team, even with Kawhi back in there, probably on Saturday, you've got to understand exactly the things that we did better tonight. That's just being a lot more alert defensively to start and just making them work.

Q. In the last game you did talk about getting off to a good start. You had 15 points in the first quarter, and you guys had 11 assists in the first quarter. Can you talk about how important that is and the discussions you guys probably had the last 48 hours to get to that point?
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, I mean, we just talked about it the last two times we've played against them in the regular season and then Game 1. The first quarter was not our best effort, and obviously both games we found ways to come back. But you don't want to be in that position every time you play this team.

So the only thing that changed was defensive intensity and pressure and focus. Making shots can come and go, but you have to give yourself an opportunity to withstand whatever may happen on the offensive end. Even so, our defense could even promote the tempo that we wanted to get to. So that was the key tonight.

Q. This is a team that in the past has been motivated by history and has enjoyed chasing history. When you get to 10-0 in the Playoffs, can you not help but start to think what if and what lays ahead? What lies ahead?
STEPHEN CURRY: Not at all. It's pretty easy not to think about that, if you know what I mean.

Q. I know you were amused earlier in the year when people said this was a down year for you, but it seems like you've really turned it up the last couple of months. What's ignited this fire the last couple weeks in the Playoffs especially?
STEPHEN CURRY: Nothing, really. Just this is playoff time, and if you're not excited and don't get that adrenaline rush and get locked into the moment, you're going to miss out.

So thankfully I'm playing well, playing aggressive and confident, shots going in, trying to be locked in in every other aspect of the game too. I hope I'd say that if I didn't make shots, just trying to do what I can to make sure I'm helping my team win and doing little things here and there on both of the floor, rebounding, trying to play make, whatever the case may be. Just confident and aggressive and in a good rhythm and good flow. So just want to try to keep that going.

Q. How valuable was that for you guys to get off your legs there in the fourth quarter to see everybody else do so much to keep that urgency going? Also, what kind of lift did [Patrick] McCaw give you guys on both ends?
STEPHEN CURRY: I mean, he was amazing. Obviously with Andre [Iguodala] out, it was the next-man-up philosophy. Everybody says it, but when you have a guy like Pat who doesn't really know when his minutes are going to come, he always stays ready. The biggest thing for him was his aggressiveness. You get an open shot, take it. Make or miss, that's a good shot for us. Understanding the moment, when he gets the ball in his hands, just, you know, make the right decision, be aggressive, like I said, and try to make things happen.

So he did that all game, and that was huge a huge pickup for us, obviously, with Andre out. And he'll probably get a lot more minutes down the stretch of this series, and he hopefully can continue to do the same. So that was big for us. What was the other part?

Q. (No Microphone)?
STEPHEN CURRY: Yeah, it helps, obviously, you want to try to stay as fresh as possible. But we do have a nice little break before Saturday. Like I said, it was more about just sustaining our level of play. No matter what the score was, just trying to not have any drop-offs or start to get any bad habits and continue to keep our foot on the gas pedal.

Q. I know that it's basketball and every team has off nights. But were you a little surprised that that team came out as flat as it did tonight?
STEPHEN CURRY: No, I wouldn't say they came out flat. We just tried to do things a little differently on the defensive end to try to make it tough on them. Obviously Jonathon Simmons got hot a little bit in the first quarter, but he made some tough shots, and we've got to live with that.

But across the board you just try not to give him any clean looks. That's something we can control with our effort and our intensity. Try to sustain that for 48 minutes, that's it. They didn't come out and lay down at all. We had to really turn it up and change our performance from Game 1.

Q. There was a time when the Spurs were one of the tougher matchups. They kind of guarded you better than most teams. But lately against them you've been pretty golden. It's been like a miraculous rise.
STEPHEN CURRY: I am not answering that. That was a good try, though. Next question. Next question.

Q. Pop was in here earlier -- I don't know how to follow that. Pop was in here earlier, and he said he was surprised in his team. He didn't feel that they believed they could do it without Kawhi. He said it was very apparent to him from the beginning of the game, and they were never able to recapture that. We hear you guys say on the court sometimes that you can tell when players on the other team are ready to go home and all that trash y'all talk to each other. What could you tell today about them out on the court?
STEPHEN CURRY: That's interesting you said that because I was actually standing by our bench right before the pregame clock went down to zero before the National Anthem and everything, and they were out there. I kind of was just watching. I was sitting on the bench a couple minutes before the clock goes off. They were having fun. They looked pretty light on their feet. Couple guys were yelling "Let's go" and that kind of stuff. So the normal pre-game, get-hyped moment. It looked like they were all in tune.

But I feel like when the game starts it's whoever wants to grab that momentum early and set the tone for the game, and I think we did that a little bit better tonight. So that was huge. You don't want to give them any reason and any life from our standpoint. But I'm pretty sure those players have egos. They understand the moment and the opportunity they have. It is what it is.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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